Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume II Review and Swatches

There isn’t ever any GOOD excuse to refrain from reviewing incredible makeup but let me explain my side of the Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume II tale. I know SO many of you have e-mailed begging and pleading for me to review but I kinda wanted to do looks with the palette before reviewing…sigh….sadly my schedule is always jammed tightly packed and I didn’t have that chance to do the looks which is why I’ve been held up with my review.

Don’t hate me k?

Since Urban Decay Friends and Family is on at the moment now is good as any a time to spread the cheer and joy that surrounds Book of Shadows II.

Note before making the jump please know the post is photo intensive. I’d really appreciate it if you not download images from the post as it will bring down my site. I took lots of photos because I know it’s fun to see each and every aspect of a makeup item but it’s also at the cost of possibly causing a problem with my server so please refrain from downloading images, thanks!

If you want a bad ass palette Urban Decay Book of Shadows Volume II has you covered. They took a great idea and they added in more and bam they gave birth to a second volume of a cult item that’s been loved by fans since it’s release last year.

Difference between 1 and 2 would be the size of the actual palette and design plus what’s inside. Volume 1 is leaner more compact and doesn’t come with the extras included in Volume 2 which are two mini 24/7 Eye Liners and a Mini Urban Decay Primer Potion. Volume 2 is bigger, thicker, includes minis, plus it has a look book for recreating some of UD’s signature looks. Both have sixteen shades of shadow, both contain exclusive shades, and both are mean little pieces of makeup awesome. Now Volume 2 isn’t as “pretty” as Volume 1 was. Volume 1 had this very pretty pop up design where as Volume 2 sports a full size mirror plus a hidden fold away which contains the look book. I thought 1 was really pretty where as 2 is a bit more functional, practical, and not as pretty.

Secondly, and most importantly, I will say that the shades in Volume 1 are some of my favs and I can’t think of a single one aside from Perversion (Black Navy Matte ugly shade) that didn’t work for me. Now Volume 2 I’m not as lucky….There are quite a few shades in Volume 2 I wasn’t loving. Perversion, Gunmetal, AC/DC, Sellout, and Misdemeanor are all shades I wasn’t feeling the love for. I guess in terms of vibrancy and colorfulness Volume 1 gets the award. Volume 2 contains considerably less shimmery shades.

Now the design is the same in the fact you have to pull out the “draw” of shadows. Some people have ranted this design and deemed it flawed but personally I like it. It keeps the shadows snug and secure and doesn’t make a mess in the least. It’s a rather ideal way to keep the shadows safe.

Few pages from the look book….

I love the initiative Urban Decay has taken with the exclusive shades. It’s a firm marketing technique and they have stuck to keeping the shades exclusive and limited to these palettes. As in you aren’t purchasing the palette and suddenly next month it’s being released in a pot form. That shadow is exclusive to the palette as stated. I like this alot. Yes, it could be potentially lethal if it’s a favorite shade and you run out but I love the idea that for once something is indeed limited, as advertised, and not reinvented in a new format later on down the road. The term limited edition and exclusive is thrown around way to loosely within the US it’s actually nice for once seeing it used in it’s truest light.

Speaking of exclusive….

The exclusive shades have doubled with the new Volume so you actually get a total of eight shadows. Some of the key shades in the palette that stand out for me are Jinx (Bright Blue Shimmer somewhat like Kiddie Pool but less glitter and more true blue), Homegrown (a true bright green), and Flipside (Teal).

Overall, Volume 1 is my favorite of the two but Volume 2 has alot to offer as well. If you don’t have spare cash hanging out at the moment you can probably safely skip but if you have a bit to throw around, I’d buy it, especially as it’s 30% off with the Friends and Family event ongoing. The extras included and wide array of colors makes it a worthy palette to haul particularly if you don’t have a slew of Urban Decay shadows or you never tried them before. I won’t say I love it because that’s reserved for it’s predecessor but I will say I like it.

Who’s hauled it?

What do you think?

Which is better for you?

Volume 1? Volume 2?

Tell the Muse!

Disclosure: The following item was provided to Musings of a Muse by a PR firm for review purposes. For further information please see my FTC Guidelines or my Disclosure/Disclaimer posts.

Comments

I’m a total Volume 1 girl. Although I wish it had come with mini 24/7s, really, how many Zeros do I need? I have 4!!

The only color I actually want (like really bad) is Mushroom, although I feel like I could possibly find a good dupe for it somewhere, if I looked hard enough (or at all haha!).

When this first came out, I was crazy excited about it, but the more I think (and look at it) I realized I don’t actually need it. I barely use the first one as it is! I do wish that it had a highlight shade though…

I bought this for myself, and I was so excited when it came in the mail. However, after a few weeks I returned it. The SA was all, “But people are KILLING for these!” I don’t know about that- but I know that even though I love UD, this palette wasn’t doing it for me. Hardly any of the colors really worked on my face, though they are quite lovely. I got my fifty bucks back and bought one of the Kat von D palettes instead.

I love Vol. II!! For some reason, I actually like the new palette better. I do agree with you about Perversion. Although I also am not a fan of Sphynx. On the flipside, I love AC/DC! Mushroom, Sellout, YDK, and Misdemeanor are my other favorites, although I like all of the others (with the exception of the two previously mentioned ones), as well. I wasn’t so sure about the bright blues/greens at first, but I love blending them with Mushroom over the top for an everyday look – it really tones them down but still lets the color show through. 😀 Thanks for posting about this!

hey ashley misdeamnor and perversion are the WORST imho! yak hate them! 😀 I like 2 but 1 is my favs 😀 I really like volume 2 b/c of the gorgeous blues and greens, they are my fav part of the palette 😀 Mmm I like your idea with mushroom!!!!!!! 😀

My problem with this palette is that it has 3 of the 4 shades from the Get Baked Palette (Baked being in BoS I), which I bought about a month before this one started showing up on blogs. I would have skipped getting the other one, saved the $28 it cost me, and gotten BoS II instead for the extra $20.

I have that palette to auro so totally know how you feel 😛 I also have practically all the singles so it makes having the palette kinda wasteful since I have the shades in a single already but the exclusive shades tempt me so much!

Right out favorites for me are Homegrown, Mushroom, AC/DC and Flipside as a lower eyeliner (hee hee will copy the Urban Decay “Baked” look in the Sephora get the look). Very excited to try Jinx in a whole lot of looks (Nars Sexual Healing lip? Could be very bad or very good haha). Kind of disappointed that Gunmetal isn’t darker and more glittery but will still try it…

AC/DC worked for me with the Naked lipstick, which leads me to say:

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I bought it after reading your post and your advice to grab. I almost wavered but stuck to it and now that it’s here, you were 100% right! It’s everything you promised and yes, I do love it ^_^ Very interesting color – a non boring nude tee hee, liking it a lot and the whipped cream like formula 🙂

Also, almost all reviews I read complained about Midnight Cowboy Rides Again. It’s my very favorite as I use it wet as a first layer under ALL the dark shadows in the box I tried so far, (or on top) to give them a 3D look. If only the people who hate it could just give me theirs 😛

yayayayay! Awesome! Homegrown is gorg! NAKED! w000t so glad you loved naked as I LOVE it! It’s such a fab formula and color 😀 I love all the shades of MC, I don’t mind the glitter in the least 😀 it’s gorg!

While I like a majority of the colors, I am skipping it because it’s too freaking bulky. I do a lot of traveling and this is just too impractical to carry around and would take up most of my traveling make up case. I think I’ll be hauling the Show Pony set instead.

Yeah, I was at Sephora’s VIB thing at the Union Square store eyeing Book of Shadows II again and just shook my head. I am also kicking myself in the butt being so impatient wanting to use my 20% off coupon on just Too Faced Lashlight mascara and not picking up Show Pony then..(And I am sure my boyfriend LOVED being the friend I used my VIB pass for lol)

hey muse! wow it’s funny – the shadows u dont love are precisely the ones i DO love! lol! i use them the most. perversion is fab to dab on the outter corners of the eye to enhance the smoky-eye effect!
sadly i didnt get a chance to pick up the book of shadows volume 1 as i was out of the country, but i see that i already owned a good chunk of the shadows anyway so im not too sad. i love the book of shadows 2 so much that im gonna make a 2nd F&F haul and get it!
in my first UD F&F haul i got the 24/7 super stash, freakshow deluxe e/s, naked lipstick, sin PP, deluxe shadow box, as well as my mom’s order: a 2nd super stash, the best of UD set, and the stagedive/covet set! ready for haul #2 with my backup book of shadows! lol! this is it for my x-mas present for myself! lol.

hey lizzie! hah 😀 I gotta say perversion and misdemeanor are my least favs 😛 no likey but I do love the greens/aquas in this book! Nice hauling babe! I’m thinking I’m gonna snag myself the superstash 😀 everything else I will be good with!!!!!!! 😀

Thank you for the review. I just deleted this from my fnf haul and I’m going for the amo with full size primer for $39. I love and own 4 of the colors in the amo palette and pretty much out all of them which says something because I never actually use up shadows. The book ii has a couple i already have and I wasn’t sure I liked the size but i’m lemming the special edition colors. The amo pallette is more useable so I’m gonna pass on book ii for now… I think.

Hey, I LOVE your blog and thanks for your great reviews! I’m just getting into urban decay and I’m looking into purchasing one of their palettes, especially with this great FF sale going on now. However, I can’t decide on their deluxe shadow box and the BOS II. I know you have your heart set on the first, but do you also have their deluxe shadow box? Any opinions?